Congratulations, Huffington Post! Today is your six-month anniversary since your much-heralded and skeptically-greeted (cough Nikki Finke cough) debut on May 9, 2005 (if you don't believe me just read the banner!).

Pretty decent six months, no? Here's what we said at the 90-day mark:

Arianna's been making some pretty smart moves and this [having Cindy Sheehan join the blog] is one of them. HuffPo only just turned three months old, and it is already very much a player.

This was back in August, before Judith Miller was released from jail and Arianna showed her stripes (and teeth) as a vociferous watchdog. Since then she has made herself a must-read on all things PlameGate with relentless, up-to-date coverage of all the players and plenty of insider info (see today's installments below -- oh come now, Chalabi, like Arianna would forget that you've come to town!).

Her bloggers have only gotten stronger, too; shrewdly she has invited all sorts of good people to join her ranks, understanding that the next blog star can come from anywhere (cough Greg Gutfeld cough), and that new content is like crack. The breaking news, the links, the unapologetically constant taking the Bush administration task -- they're all working to engage the audience (the comments section on the blog are always overflowing).

No one could have fully predicted the rise of HuffPo, and Arianna (nice Vanity Fair profile this month, by the way!), mostly because it's resulted from nimbly responding to stories and shrewdly capitalizing on opportunity. At this rate, who knows where the hell they'll be at a year.

Rub Elbows With Judy Miller, Just $375! [HuffPo]
Ahmad Does D.C.: An Alternative Chalabi Itinerary [HuffPo]
Dick Durbin Tees Off [HuffPo]

Related:
Arianna Huffington is no dummy [FishbowlNY]